Mountains, Beaches and a City That Dances
Rio de Janeiro is a coastal city in southeastern Brazil, known for Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain, the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, and Carnival. Its landscape combines granite peaks, Atlantic rainforest and ocean in a way that few cities can match, and it was inscribed by UNESCO as a cultural landscape in 2012, as 'Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea'. Christ the Redeemer, atop Corcovado, was completed in 1931 and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Culture here is musical and joyful. Samba and bossa nova were born in Rio, and the city's neighbourhoods are known for their personalities: Copacabana and Ipanema for beach life, Santa Teresa for hilltop artists' homes and trams, Lapa for samba clubs and the Selaron Steps, and Botafogo and Leblon for restaurants. Carnival, before Lent, fills the Sambadrome with samba school parades, and New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach draws huge crowds in white.
Sugarloaf, Tijuca Forest and Ipanema Sunsets
Highlights are best taken in a mix of high and low. The cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain offers sweeping views over Guanabara Bay, the Tijuca Forest, one of the world's largest urban rainforests, shelters waterfalls and walking trails, and the Botanical Garden, founded in 1808, holds a famous avenue of royal palms. The Museum of Tomorrow and the Olympic Boulevard show a modern face of the Porto Maravilha waterfront, while the Maracana stadium recalls football's great nights.
Dining is a pleasure, from feijoada, the black bean and pork stew, to fresh seafood, acai bowls, pao de queijo and fresh coconut water at beach kiosks. Ipanema's sunset applause for the day's end is a local ritual. A hotel group can showcase beachfront and boutique stays across all these neighbourhoods. Rio fits naturally into a South American journey with Colombia and the Galapagos Islands, and links easily with Mexico and the Caribbean for a longer Latin American trip.
Read the full Rio de Janeiro guide on Visit Travel Group, or see VisitRio.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.